Nigel Sabin studied composition with Richard Meale in Australia
and David Del Tredici in New York. He holds a first class honours
degree in music from the University of Adelaide and a PhD in
music from the University of Queensland. He has received several
awards and fellowships including a Churchill Fellowship, an
Australia Council Composers' Fellowship, an Australia Council
International Study Grant, a Jacobena Angliss Award, and an Arts
WA Fellowship. Sabin's instrumental compositions receive regular
broadcasts on Australian radio and have been performed by most of
Australia's symphony orchestras and leading ensembles. They have
also received performances in Europe, Japan and the USA.

Sabin's music is influenced by the American minimalists and shows
a command of traditional harmonic practice coupled with rhythmic
buoyancy. It is sometimes humorous and has variously been
described as 'engagingly nutty', 'evocatively poetic' and 'sure
to convert the enemies of contemporary music'. Several of his
works are available on CD.

Sabin has also pursued a career as a clarinettist and has
performed throughout Australia as a clarinet soloist and
orchestral musician with various orchestras and ensembles,
including the Adelaide, Tasmanian, Western Australian and
Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the Seymour Group, and Magpie
Musicians. He was a founding member and driving force behind the
innovative and award-winning chamber music ensemble, Perihelion.
Perihelion developed a unique repertoire that reflected a
postmodern sensibility with a distinctly Australian flavour. The
ensemble commissioned a large body of work from Australian
composers, among them Ross Edwards, Elena Kats-Chernin, Gerard
Brophy, Roger Smalley, and Michael Smetanin. Recording and
touring were central to the ensemble's activities, and the group
released several recordings which were critically acclaimed for
artistic excellence and innovative programming.

From 1995-96 Sabin was composer in residence with the Queensland
Symphony Orchestra at which time he wrote his first symphony.
Other orchestral works completed during his residency include
New York Souvenirs for viola and orchestra, Love
Songs for trumpet and orchestra, and An Australian
Holiday for clarinet and orchestra. Sabin was invited to
take up a teaching post at the Western Australian Conservatorium
of Music in 1997. He remained there until 2000 at which time he
moved to Sydney where he continues to pursue his diverse
interests in music technology and the composition of chamber
music.